Identification of hydrogeochemical processes and pollution sources of groundwater resources in the Marand plain, northwest of Iran

• Published in: Environmental earth sciences Vol. 76; no. 7; pp. 1 - 297
• Main Authors: Barzegar, Rahim, Moghaddam, Asghar Asghari, Tziritis, Evangelos, Fakhri, Mir Sajjad, Soltani, Shahla
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.04.2017; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: aluminum; anthropogenic activities; Anthropogenic factors; arsenic; bicarbonates; Biogeosciences; cadmium; calcium; chlorides; chromium; cluster analysis; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Environmental Science and Engineering; Factor analysis; fluorides; Geochemistry; Geology; Groundwater; hydrogeochemistry; Hydrology; Hydrology/Water Resources; Ion exchange; ions; Iran; iron; Lead; magnesium; manganese; minerals; multivariate analysis; nitrates; Original Article; pollution; Pollution sources; potassium; rocks; Salinization; sodium; Statistical analysis; sulfates; Terrestrial Pollution; Trace elements; Trace metals; variance; Water analysis; Water resources; Water sampling; weathering; Iran; Hydrogeochemistry; Marand plain; Multivariate statistical analysis; NW Iran; Trace metals
• ISSN: 1866-6280; 1866-6299
• DOI: 10.1007/s12665-017-6612-y

The main aims of the present study are to identify the major factors affecting hydrogeochemistry of groundwater resources in the Marand plain, NW Iran and to evaluate the potential sources of major and trace elements using multivariate statistical analysis such as hierarchical clustering analysis (HCA) and factor analysis (FA). To achieve these goals, groundwater samples were collected in three sampling periods in September 2013, May 2014 and September 2014 and analyzed with regard to ions (e.g., Ca 2+ , Mg 2+ , Na + and K + , HCO 3 − , SO 4 2− , Cl − , F − and NO 3 − ) and trace metals (e.g., Cr, Pb, Cd, Mn, Fe, Al and As). The piper diagrams show that the majority of samples belong to Na–Cl water type and are followed by Ca–HCO 3 and mixed Ca–Na–HCO 3 . Cross-plots show that weathering and dissolution of different rocks and minerals, ion exchange, reverse ion exchange and anthropogenic activities, especially agricultural activities, influence the hydrogeochemistry of the study area. The results of the FA demonstrate that 6 factors with 81.7% of total variance are effective in the overall hydrogeochemistry, which are attributed to geogenic and anthropogenic impacts. The HCA categorizes the samples into two clusters. Samples of cluster C1, which appear to have higher values of some trace metals like Pb and As, are spatially located at the eastern and central parts of the plain, while samples of cluster C2, which express the salinization of the groundwater, are situated mainly westward with few local exceptions.